Nebraska railcar-cleaning company and owners plead guilty after deadly explosion

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Kylee Haueter

A Nebraska railcar-cleaning company and its two owners have pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with a 2015 railcar explosion that killed two people and injured a third.

On April 14, 2015, employees of Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services LLC entered a tanker car near First and Hickory Streets in Omaha to clean it​.

Prosecutors said the tanker car was not tested for levels of benzene, a highly flammable chemical, and the car wasn't continuously monitored for explosive levels of gases. About an hour after the workers were sent into the tanker car, its contents exploded, killing Adrian LaPour, 44, and Dallas Foulk, 40. A third man, Joe Coschka, was knocked off the car but escaped serious injury.

In federal court Monday, Steven Braithwaite, president and owner of Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services, pleaded guilty to two counts of violating worker safety standards that resulted in the workers’ deaths and knowingly endangering others by violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

Read more: https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/nebraska-railcar-cleaning-company-and-owners-plead-guilty-after-deadly-explosion/article_de868b10-e4d2-11eb-9ab0-5b3166cc2715.html#tracking-source=home-the-latest

[EYESORE 9001]

1. Many years ago, I took a contract position with a company that performed chemical testing

The substances being tested were oily and viscous, so cleanup was a difficult task. Management decided the best solvent was toluene - a close cousin of benzene and a right bad actor. Flammable too. They were mopping the floor with the stuff! I took one look at their jackleg operation and said, ‘fuck THIS! I am outta heah!’ Didn’t look back. I did drop a dime on their dumb asses, however. I never heard about that double-wide burning to the ground, so maybe my calls did some good.